Every single year the dictionary expands and new words are added, sometimes without anyone even noticing how or why. Typically, these words were already words but they somehow take on a new meaning due to popular culture and current trends.
Take the word "mad" for example, a word which used to describe an emotion. A synonym for angry or upset. Around 2009, this word took on a whole new meaning: a lot. "I have mad homework to get done." "There are mad people going to that party tonight." So on and so forth.
One of the more recent words that has done a "definition switch" is the word "lit." In the Webster's Dictionary, lit is defined as "the past and past participle of the word light." Using this word in its original form, it is solely used to describe lighting of an area or the opposite of the word dark.
College students, a species of people that do plenty of questionable things, figured, "Hey, let's give lit a new meaning; its old meaning is boring and it's time for a change." Despite being a college-aged student myself, I'm still not even quite sure exactly what lit is supposed to mean nowadays. Despite hearing it often, the definition may still be going through some finalizing.
Through context clues, I can assume lit (in the way fraternity guys are using it) means good, positive or awesome. Some examples of the way I've heard lit being used around Rowan's campus are as follows:
"That party was so lit last night that I lost my shoes!"
"I have class in fifteen minutes and I'm still hungover, so not lit."
"Tonight is First Friday at Landmark, liiiiit"
When you sit down and think about it, there is some logic behind this new definition. Light, the present form of lit, means bright and has an overall positive connotation. Whoever was the first person to decide "lit" was now going to be a popular term had some genius and thought behind what they were thinking.
When I sit here and think about how just a few months ago, lit was a word I probably heard once in a blue moon and now I hear it daily, it's pretty funny. It makes me wonder what words will become a part of everyday conversation in the near future. Will red describe something weird, or will the word puppy describe how happy you are. Maybe moist, a word in which majority of the population hates, will finally gain a positive definition.
In the world we live in today it's pretty clear that anything is possible, as long as a college student thinks its cool. But whatever the next "new definition" will be, I'm sure it will be lit.
